Historically, women have been under-represented in the field of engineering, yet many of these women have accomplished much by making breakthroughs by contributing their minds and efforts to the diverse fields of engineering — civil, mechanical, electrical, industrial, oceanic, and aeronautical, among others.
Encouraging more women to get in to the field, the Georgia Tech Women in Engineering program held their 18th annual Engineering Career Conference (ECC) for current female junior and senior high school students. The conference is limited to 200 young women, and applicants are selected based on a written essay and current GPA.
Three Mustangs — Hannah Hagenau (senior), Maddy Long (senior), and Catherine Shanks (junior) — were accepted to attend the EEC, which isΒ designed to give high school girls information about the multiple engineering disciplines offered at Georgia Tech to help them decide if they are interested in pursuing the study of engineering in college.
Over the course of a single day, prospective female students heard directly from Georgia Tech’s world-renowned faculty, as well as current Tech students about the 11 undergraduate engineering majors offered at Georgia Tech:
- Aerospace Engineering
- Biomedical Engineering
- Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering
- Civil Engineering
- Computer Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Environmental Engineering
- Industrial & Systems Engineering
- Materials Science & Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
- Nuclear & Radiological Engineering
In addition, attendees met with a Georgia Tech admissions counselor over lunch to learn more about about the Institute’s admissions process and the academic requirements necessary to succeed in engineering programs.
REFLECTIONS:
Hannah Hagenau, Senior:Β The GT Womenβs Conference provided me with the opportunity to learn more about my intended major. I am interested in Biomedical Engineering and this event allowed me to meet other high school girls with similar interests as me!
Maddy Long, Senior:Β Although Georgia Tech was not originally on my radar, my dream has been to be a chemical engineer. Therefore, I decided to go to the Women’s Engineering Conference. The conference allowed me to learn about the different types of engineering. I was fascinated by what I learned and now I have decided to apply to Georgia Tech. Overall, I would say I had a wonderful experience at Georgia Tech. The conference allowed me to learn about how the experiencesΒ I could have such as co-ops and internships, which would open many opportunitiesΒ for my in the future.
Catherine Shanks, Junior:Β I have always loved math and science, but it wasn’t until I started high school that I considered becoming an engineer. At the Women in Engineering Conference, not only did I learn more about biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, and biomolecular engineering, which I was already interested in, I was introduced to new possibilities.
